warrior project. >> yes, i broadly serve on the board of directors. we like to honor and empower this generation of wounded veterans. >> it was an honor to have you kick my butt today. >> tomorrow. you'll be out there tomorrow. >> i will not be out there tomorrow. >> save those falls for at time. >> that's it for "the lead with jake tapper." i turn you over to wolf blitzer. shocking detail, the most information yet on flight 370 contained in a long-awaited report released by the malaysian government. does it contain includes that could locate the missing plane? the report reveals multiple delays in the efforts to find flight 370. battle brewing. nba owners hud toll talk about forcing donald sterling to sell the l.a. clippers. will he fight back in court? i'm wolf blitzer, you're in "the

situation room." critical new details and stunning mistakes revealed in the most comprehensive look yet at the disappearance of malaysia airlines flight 370. the country's transportation ministry released a preliminary report on the case that's been gripping people around the world for almost eight weeks. it contains the most information we've seen so far about what happened the night the plane vanished. our expert analysts are combing through the report. they're standing by, along with cnn's tom foreman. first, let's go to kuala lumpur, our senior international correspondent nic robertson has the latest. what does the report reveal? >> reporter: wolf, the most stunning revelation appears to be in the actions taken when the plane went missing between 1:38 a.m. and 6:14 a.m. for two hours, malaysian airlines operation center is misreading its own computer, telling air traffic control the flight was in fact over

cambodia, they were tracking it and in communications with it. that turned out to be an error, lasting over two hours. there is a full recording of the air traffic control to cockpit voice recording. that's the first time we're hearing that. there's maps of the routes. there's a cargo manifest, we knew that. there is a passenger manifest and, of course, the interim report adding a few more details what it does do along with the air traffic recordings is detail the last hours of the flight. >> mas 370 is cleared to beijing via pibos. >> reporter: 12:41 a.m., saturday march 8th. malaysia airlines flight 370 takes off from kuala lumpur for what was supposed to be a six-hour flight to beijing.

227 passengers and 12 crew members are on board the boeing 777. for the next 38 minutes, all seems normal. the plane climbs to cruising altitude and is on a direct path to the chinese capital. 1:19 a.m., kuala lumpur air traffic control instructs flight 370 to make contact with vietnamese controllers. the crew confirms, in what would be the final transmission from the cockpit. >> maidsian 370 contact ho chi minh 120. >> reporter: two minutes later, at 1:21 a.m., the plane's trans respo transponder stops responding. 17 minutes pass before anyone asks about the now missing plane. at 1:38 a.m., air traffic controllers in ho chi minh city contact their counterparts in

kuala lumpur who ask controllers in singapore, hong kong and phnom penh if they've heard from flight 370. none of them have. we now know the plane made a mysterious turn, changing altitude, disappearing at times from radar, only to re-appear. almost four hours pass before malaysia mounts a search and rescue operation at 5:30 a.m. but the plane is still somewhere in the air. finally, at 8:11 a.m., nearly two hours after it should have landed in beijing, the satellite picks up a final transmission from the plane. then malaysia flight 370 vanishes. and nothing, nothing, no fragment, nothing of that aircraft found since. that is the last detail to come, wolf. >> nic robertson with the latest on this preliminary report. thank you. let's get more now with cnn aviation analysts, the former

ntsb managing director peter goelz, cnn analyst and cnn's tom foreman. you've been involved in a lot of these aviation disasters. what do you make of this report? was it more specific, less specific than you anticipated? >> it should have been issued about six weeks ago. the investigation went far too long without a factual report. there should be no analysis in it and there isn't any. that's going to come within we have more facts. but i think the report was basic. it should have been issued a long time ago. >> bare bones. there was nothing in the report, i kbrt through the whole thing, that gives us a clue at all, correct me if i'm wrong, tom, about who's responsible for this disappearance. whether it be individuals or catastrophic failure. >> i don't think they're hiding anything. they don't have a clue yet of what exactly happened to the

plane. >> they have suspicions, clearly some indication of what they believe based on the evidence they've collected. they don't necessarily have to share it and they certainly didn't in this report. >> that's right. they didn't want too add to the speculation which there's been plenty of. the report is bare bones, just the facts. and that's about all we expected from the beginning. it's just as peter said, it should have been a month and a half ago. >> tom foreman, they did release maps in the various appendices. >> where they thought this was is nowhere near where they're looking now. remember, when this took off, they put their focus very much up in here. if you look at all that chatter over those four hours and hours afterward, it was all about the plane is somehow here. but the other maps show that this is the data and it would suggest that by the time they reached that point, as kninic s,

the plane could have been down here. this is a very, very huge distance. we also know one more thing from the maps, wolf. this is not all created equal down here. they have different traffcking here on the paths they have taken. they've ainsoed values down here to this search zone. there are three key ones down here, the northern most one is the one they're giving the greatest probability to. the other ones also have to be included. it's more information, wolf, but the biggest thing is this is what they believe in now is absolutely not what they believed in or looked for back when the event happened for some critical days, wolf. >> peter, when i read this report, looked at the various information, a lot of it seemed to be guesswork, if you will. even if they were off by a few knots in terms of how fast the plane was going at what altitude, that could dramatically change the eventual location when it ran out of gas. >> absolutely. i mean, the challenging part of this investigation and this

search going forward is how wide an area they have to go. they've made some basic suppositions. they might be off just a little. if they're off just a little, that plane is going to be very difficult to find. it spreads out over a vast amount of ocean bottom. >> stand by. we have more to assess, more reporting to do up next. stunning missteps by malaysia in the minutes and hours after the plane disappeared. did they make a bad situation even worse? and other news we're following, this, will donald sterling go to court totry to keep hold of the l.a. clippers? nba owners they've been discussing options today. we'll have details, straight ahead. that's coming up in "the situation room" as well. >> it's not true? >> no, of course not. >> the tape speaks for itself. >> sir. did you know, your eyes can lose vital nutrients as you age?

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malaysia's new report of the disappearance of flight 370 reveals potentially critical missteps in the minutes and hours immediately after the plane disappeared almost two months ago. cnn's brian todd is working this part of the story for us. brian, what went wrong? >> if the report focuses on two potentially disastrous lapses in communication. those gaps cost valuable time. and if things had been handled differently in those moments, we may have had many more answers by now in this case. >> flight 370. >> reporter: the newly released report raises the central question to the mystery, how could malaysian officials lose track of this plane, two critical moments are under scrutiny.

first, a 17-minute gap from when malaysia airlines flight 370 disappeared to when vietnamese air traffic control told the kuala lumpur tower it made no contact with the plane. >> that flight was a scheduled flight. it goes there every day. >> reporter: after that first warning from the vietnamese, the malaysians and the vietnamese exchanged several questions on the plane's whereabouts. >> classic confusion that happens in these situations. "a" says to "b" have you seen the plane? "b" says to "d" where's that plane? "d" says back to "a" i thought you saw it. >> reporter: the second big question raised by this report, why did it take four hours for the malaysians to launch a rescue operation from the time they knew it went missing? was this the biggest mistake by malaysian authorities? >> four hours. it is an absurd amount of time before you start to launch a search operation. that's ridiculous.

this is -- i've got a commercial airliner that's lost. >> reporter: analyst jeff wise says it would be tough to justify a cost did i rescue operation that soon when so little was known. wise says in that period, malaysian officials had to make as many calls as they could. that takes time. and wise says, it may not have made a difference anyway. >> even if they had done it qui quickly, by the time they had gotten in the air, it was already gone. it was way ahead of anybody that could have changed after them. >> reporter: the plane had made an unexpected change of direction without any known reason to divert. a mystery that continues to this day. wolf? >> a huge mystery. of course brian, the other aspect of this report that's generating so much interest, the recommendation for what's called live streaming data from commercial aircraft, they want it. tell us about that. >> that's right, wolf. we've been looking at this almost from the day this plane disappeared. in this report, the malaysians ask international authorities to look at the realtime tracking of

commercial planes. that's a system where the airlines operators on the ground can see information like air speed, altitude and location in realtime. it's transmitted off satellites. the technology is there. it's been used. the airlines for the most part have been reluctant to install it, mainly because they want to save money. >> brian todd, thanks very much. let's bring back our aviation analyst, peter gold, and our law enforcement analyst, the former fbi assistant director, tom fuentes. what about that last point that brian just made, saving money? in this day and age, you would think live streaming would be imperative with an airliner that cost about $250 million, manufactured by boeing, has 239 people on board. you would think whatever it costs, that's money well spent. >> it is well spent. the thing that's frustrating is that the french equivalent of the ntsb made exactly the same recommendation to wko following

the crash of air france 447. and the reality is, you would only need to require this streaming over what they call etops aircraft, extended range. those aircraft fly over open ocean. that would cut back on what they call the clogs in the data stream. you only need it periodically. once every five seconds. you just need a hint of where that plane is. >> one key lesson hopefully they will learn from this disaster. how much of a red flag, tom, is it that if you read this report, we all did, the lack of any malaysian military activity once that plane disappears from radar. >> i think it's clear, wolf, they just cannot imagine that they're in any kind of danger for their military to be on any -- even a regular alert compared to other countries. it just would not expect a hijacking, a terrorist act. they don't expect another country to invade them or attack

by air. and it shows. so the civil aviation authority even when the plane goes missing, even later, you know, the military seeing an unidentified blip on their radar, no red flags, no real emergency on their part because who's going to attack malaysia, in their mind? >> next week, aviation experts are being called to australia, to go ahead and review the military radar data, other information, to go back in effect to the beginning, see what information they have and make sure it's correct, it's accurate, in other words, start afresh and do a complete review. >> well, that's something we discussed here, wolf. a number of weeks ago. it's the right thing to do. they need to get a set of fresh eyes. it's nothing, you know, toward the original team but let's get new guys in there that says are we going to come up with the same solution? >> sometimes a fresh pair of eyes can really help a

situation. when you were at the fbi investigating, you brought in outside experts, sometimes that could turn around a case. >> it could be. but the mystery here is how old is their radar? if you bring in all the great experts used to looking at state-of-the-art equipment in other countries and you look at the malaysian countries with be this could be like 1960s black and white television. the greatest minds and eyes in the world can't add resolution to a screen that's not there. >> in europe, bottom line ass s assessment, this lengthy report with all the indexes, all the statistics and all the maps that were released, they should have done it a long time ago. they still have a lot more information. if you were a family member of one of the passengers on board that plane, you want more information. >> i'd want to see a report like this once every ten days. >> complete with -- even more information? >> absolutely. i'd want to know who the new team was going to be. what are they looking at? start to develop some trust. >> it's hard to believe, even

after -- if an individual or individuals, tom, were involved after almost 60 days, there's been no one claiming responsibility, no one claiming credit. no suicide note, nothing along those lines. in addition to no found wreckage. >> an intensive investigation, all these days later has not identified any of those kind of threats as being, you know, one being more possible than the other. they really don't know and they still don't know. >> that's why this is such a huge, huge, almost unprecedented mystery, guys, thanks very much for that. coming up, other big news we're following this hour. nba owners are huddling on a private conference call in the aftermath of donald sterling's explosive racist rant. why they could now have a big legal fight on their hands at the same time. plus, former president george wrchs bush reveals to our own jake tapper whether he thinks jeb bush should run for president. that and a lot more, coming up here in "the situation room." in pursuit of all things awesome, amazing,

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coverage of the new missing flight 370 developments. but first, there's another story we're monitoring here in the "situation room." that's the fallout over donald sterling's explosive racist rant. owners could be gearing up for a huge legal fight. our national correspondent suzanne malveaux has been working the details for us. what's the latest? >> one-third of the nba ownership is scheduled to be on this private call. that was about 5 minutes ago. we're told sterling is not going to be on this call, that the nba commissioner needs 23 of those 30 owners to force sterling to sell the clippers franchise. this would be the first step in this multistage process. the fate of the disgraced donald sterling and the ownership of the l.a. clippers is now in the hands of the elite club of millionaire and billionaire nba

owners. ten elite clubs on the owner's advisory and finance committee holding a conference call to discuss the next steps in the saga. as the nba prepares for a possible fight over the clippers team. sterling has not said how he will proceed. >> i think it's going to be an epic drawn out battle. sterling is known as litigious. he's going to fight all of the nba's actions here. >> reporter: the most significant action the nba can take is to use a special provision in its constitution, to argue that sterling is a detriment to the league. >> ultimately, they are using a provision that allows -- that's traditionally used for a team that's in economic trouble. he has bigoted thoughts and is that enough for him to be punished? >> reporter: some attorneys think so.

because sterling is already damaged goods. >> no one will play for him. he's lost the support of his employees and by virtue of that, they're not going to play. and no one would manage for him and no one would sponsor the team. so they'll be in financial trouble if he stays. >> reporter: the nba has their own rules. but there is no morals clause for the nba to forcibly take away sterling's team which means the league could be sued by sterling. >> he has a lot of basis to sue. i'll be clear about that. certainly you can't -- this is america. you can't strip someone of their team that could be valued to about a billion dollars. so, sure, he could say it's an antitrust violation. >> the biggest arrow in sterling's quiver has to be the sheer leverage he can bring by tieing up this case in court. >> reporter: there's also no precedent for punishing an owner for making private racist remarks which could give the other owners pause about what other bad behavior could cost them their teams.

and the owners need to formally notify sterling of their intentions, give him five days to respond, ten days to determine how this vote will be conducted. the nba commissioner adam silver said he didn't poll the owners but at least 20 have made public statements supporting this turnover. our cnn reporters have three on the record, the atlantic hawks, magic and the bulls. >> thanks, suzanne. let's dig deeper, joining us, rachel nichols, the host of "unguarded with rachel nichols." also joining us, don lemon. this first meeting is preliminary. only nine of the owners participating with adam silver and others on this call that apparently is still ongoing right now. i can't imagine, just me personally, i'm anxious to hear what you think, any of these owners eventually voting to allow sterling to keep the team.

but go ahead and weigh in. >> yes, i mean, make a comparison to the political process. this is like something in congress, getting it out of committee. we know it's easier to do that than to get approval of the vote on the floor. as suzanne mention, sterling has five days to respond. this is where it's going to get interesting. because he may be talking to some of his fellow owners, guys that he's known for decade at this point. trying to sway people the other way. as you point out, wolf, in the court of public opinion, there's no question. fans, players, they want the owners of these teams to vote to oust sterling. there had been significant legal questions raised in the past couple days, looking at the nba constitution for the first time, just two days ago was released publicly. some of the language in there isn't as strong as you might like. one of the items that they think they can get sterling on, it talks about willfully trying to circumvent the nba and the way

that it operates. well, was he willfully trying to do that? if he was having a conversation in his own home, that's going to be an argumentative point. then there's the idea of him undermining the nba in general. that's where losing sponsors comes in. the nba will be able to show that and a possible player boycott, they can show that as well. there's ground there. as we mentioned, sterling is very litigious. if he decides, you know what, i am going to file a lawsuit, even though a lot of the legal experts feel that if they do get this three-quarters vote they can't win the lawsuit. if he files the lawsuit, here's what a lot of the lawsuit is going to be. hey, here's everything i know about some of these other owners and their bad behavior. entered on to the record. is it really any worse than mine? it's a direct comparison. >> go ahead. >> there's a lot of owners that might not want that. >> don, go ahead. >> no, no. guess what, rachel, you didn't catch it on tape. you didn't hear it on tape. that's hearsay. this guy did that, this guy did

that. that's the ultimate projection and fingerpointing. i think -- you know this, he is ultimately concerned about his reputation and his legacy. that's why he has adds in the "los angeles times" according to agents and people who live out there, almost every single day talking about how charitable he is. he is concerned about his legacy and how he looks in the public eye. if he has any wits about him, if he is concerned about legacy at all -- >> that is such a big if. >> he would say, look, i screwed up. i messed up. even if he wants to say it was taken out of context -- >> don, he will say that. >> here's what i'm going to do, i'm going to step down as the owner of the team and, therefore, you see i have remorse about what i did. he's probably not going to do that but according to suzanne, at least unofficially, 20 owners are saying this guy has to go. they're pretty close to that 23. it doesn't really matter at this

point what donald sterling is going to say or do. >> here's my opinion. i'll share it with you guys and our viewers. rachel, i'll let you respond to this. if he is interested in his legacy, he's 80 years old. he's not in his 40s when he was suing the nba. he's 80 years old right now. if he's really interested in saying you know what, i screwed up, a made a huge mistake, first of all, i apologize. second of all, i'm going to spend the rest of my life working to fix this. third of all i'm worth almost $2 billion and if he sells the clippers he could get a billion dollars for the clippers. i am going to give to various causes to promote racial harmony in our country, $100 million, or $200 million, that's so important, that's what i want to do. he wants to deal with his legacy, he can do something like that. >> if i was in the same room with you, wolf, i would high-five you. you're exactly right. >> i'm not sure any of us wants to play what is donald sterling

thinking for a thousand. i don't think we'll be able to answer that question. my guess from watching him over the years is what he thinks about his legacy is less important than staying the owner of the clippers. he loves being the owner of the clippers, he loves being courtside. if he thinks, the people that he confides in have convinced him that he has a case and that he can keep this team, history says he is going to try to do that. he might not win. he mate not succeed. he may, however, at least make an attempt and try to draw this out. which is really one of the nba's nightmares. >> rachel, this is what i want to know, rachel and wolf. the vote, it's a secret. it's not a public vote. will we know how the other team owners voted? because you heard what mark cuban said, i don't know, this sets an odd precedent. he's on the fence. people say one thing publicly and they do other things in private. >> he made that comment about a slippery slope before adam silver made his announcement.

after adam silver made his announcement, he expressed 100% support for what adam silver did to ban this guy -- >> publicly. >> publicly he made that announcement. adam silver also said we want to force this guy to sell the team. and so if -- >> go ahead. wrap it up. >> don makes a good point. these statements of support as suzanne mentioned, there's 20 statements of support. they don't say what the support is exactly for. when cnn sports pressed all of those teams and said, okay, but does that mean that you are going to vote to oust donald sterling, only three teams confirmed yes. so it's just going to be interesting over the next few days to see how this plays out. this is a developing story. this is not a done deal. we have to see. >> i wouldn't, rachel, read too much in the silence coming from the owners right now. the nba has asked at least for the time being all of the owners, please, not too many public comments right now. we have important work to do over the next two or three

weeks. then there will be plenty of opportunity for public comments from the owners. i wouldn't read too much into that right now. adam silver is running a tight ship over there at the nba. >> he is. >> he's doing an excellent job. all right, guy, we'll continue this conversation. don't go too far away. when we come back, there's other news we're following. the former president of the united states, george w. bush reveals to our own jake tapper whether he thinks his younger brother, jeb bush, the former florida governor, should run for president. and a brand new report reveals shocking new details in the disappearance of flight 370. could it help investigators in their search for the plane? all that and a lot more, coming up. lots of tablets. one pill. you decide. prevacid. ♪ 24 hour if yand you're talking toevere rheuyour rheumatologistike me, about a biologic... this is humira. this is humira helping to relieve my pain.

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we'll get back to our coverage of the new developments in flight 370. but first, republicans accuse white house of a cover-up over documents that just surface. jim acosta joins us with the latest information. what's going on, jim? >> reporter: wolf, the white house insists these e-mails were not about benghazi but by not turning them over sooner, administration officials reignited a controversy that has the white house on defense once again. new e-mails revealed this week by the conservative group judicial watch have sparked republican charges once again of a white house cover-up over what happened in the deadly attack at the u.s. mission in benghazi in 2012. >> it is disturbing and, perhaps, criminal, that documents like these were lidden by the obama administration from congress and the public alike.

>> reporter: republicans point to this e-mail, used to prep then u.n. ambassador susan rice. >> we put together the best information we have available. >> reporter: that said in a round of sunday talk show interviews that the killings stemmed from protests. the video from top white house spokesman, ben rhodes, urges rice to underscore the protests are rooted in an internet video and not a broader failure of policy. the white house says the rhodes e-mail was about the demonstrations, not benghazi. that's critical because the white house had said it was the intelligence community that had advised on benghazi, not political advisers. >> that e-mail was not provided. >> did you read it. >> i have it in front of me. >> the talking points produced by the intelligence community for members of congress and in the interest of having everybody use the same information used by the administration and ambassador rice on those sunday shows were divulged.

>> reporter: noting the president's own promise of full disclosure -- >> we have provided every bit information we have. we will continue to provide information. >> reporter: republicans say the white house didn't want to admit benghazi was the result of terrorism. >> remember the mantra, mr. chairman, al qaeda's on the run, gm's alive, baosama bin lan is dead. al qaeda on the run. >> what hasn't changed has been the effort by republicans to, you know, to claim a conspiracy when they haven't been able to find one. >> reporter: the white house says the full picture of what happened at benghazi is still emerging. >> there were caveating all the time about the fact that more information might become available. >> reporter: but those responses are not enough for republicans. senator john mccain is calling for a new bipartisan investigation into these e-mails and house speaker john boehner is calling on secretary of state john kerry to appear on capitol hill to testify what he knows

about those e-mails. wolf? >> jim acosta reporting from the white house. let's go deeper on this. joining us now, the host of cnn's crossfire, van jones and newt gingrich. mr. speaker, when the chairman of the committee, darrell issa, when he says it's perhaps criminal what the white house has done, what is he talking about? what is criminal? >> they were supposed to turn over all the document. they said they turned over all the documents this he clearly had not turned over all the documents. the question is whether this is a cover-up. i would note by the way in addition to john boehner, the person who has the most at risk in all this is hillary clinton. she once again is implicated in what did she know, when did she know it? it was on her watch, not john kerry's watch. >> they should find a big bail of straw and grasp at it. this is grasping of straws. >> this has been litigated,

relitigated. there's been a review process. it was really tough on this administration. they accepted all that stuff. this is one random e-mail. it's not even about benghazi. it's about the protest. they grabbed this and would run with it. what the republicans have done, they have perfected the art of taking a random fact and whipping it up into a conspiracy. this is a conspiracy theory looking for a conspiracy. >> you know, you're trying out for jay carney's job. this is an absurdity. this is a long e-mail written in the white house during the period we're talking about. >> yes. >> by the way that's factually wrong about egypt as much as it is factually wrong about benghazi but to suggest that -- >> here's the thing. >> to suggest this say random thing, look at the length of the e-mail. >> if you look at what is going on here, nothing has changed at all. we already know that susan rice went on television and said that this was a thing that was created by the protests. as soon as we found out that wasn't true, they took that back and moved forward. the republicans have no strategy going forward except to talk about benghazi forever. they have from the very

beginning they decided to exploit and politicize the deputies for america forum. >> a lot more coming up on this on "crossfire." jake spoke to george w. bush about the possibility that president bush's younger brother, former florida governor jeb bush might run for president. listen to this. >> i hope jeb runs. i think he would be a great president. i have no clue what's on his mind. and we'll talk when he's ready, as he said publicly, i'm thinking about my family. of course he knows full well what a run for the presidency can do on family. after all he's seen his dad and brother run for president. i hope he runs. so hey, jeb, if you need some advice, give me a call. >> all right, mr. speaker, you hope he runs? >> i think jeb bush is a very talented guy. i think he's one of eight or ten people who are potentially the republican nominee. if he's got it in his gut and if his family is willing to go

along with it, he ought to give it a try. >> he should go on his own merit. i don't think he should be judged on his brother. he's one of the better republicans. i hope he does run. >> is the country ready for another bush/clinton battle? >> barbara bush was probably right. there are 315 million americans, only a couple of them are named bush and clinton. but i suspect if jeb wants to run, he's talented. he was a successful governor in florida. but he shouldn't think it's going to be a coronation. he's not in the position his brother was back in 1999. he will not clear the field. >> it's a very different republican party. unfortunately a republican like him can't get the nomination. i do think this idea that we don't want these celebrities, this country loves celebrities and big names. he has a great shot at doing it. i don't think he can win the nominati

nomination. >> moderate republicans won the nomination eight years ago, four years -- in 2008 and 2012. so moderate republicans as newt gingrich can personally testify, they can win the republican nomination. >> he could win it. a lot of other people could win it. all my good friends on the left who are basking in hillary's celebrity status, it's a long way from celebrity to president. >> on that point you're right. it's a long way to go. guys we'll see you 6:30 p.m. eastern time, "crossfire" is coming back. newt and van will be in the cross fire, tonight 6:30 p.m. eastern right after "the situation room." just ahead, open warfare between government troops and al qaeda militants. we're getting reports of fierce battles and heavy casualties. this is a story you will see and hear first right here on cnn. plus, the shocking new details about the disappearance of malaysia flight 370. revealed in a long awaited report that's just come out. can they help solve the mystery of the missing jet? and dramatic new up-close

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[ male announcer ] troubleshoot, manage appointments, and bill pay from your phone. introducing the xfinity my account app. first on cnn, breaking news coming in right now. we're getting new details of what's being described as open warfare between yemen's military and the al qaeda affiliate in that country. battles are now raging in multiple cities. dozens of casualties reported on both sides. cnn has done extensive reporting from inside yemen. he's working his sources for us. he's joining us now live. what are you learning? what's the latest? >> reporter: wolf, i have

dramatic new developments from a high ranking yemeni government official who told me about just how difficult this fight has been in yemen against al qaeda in the arabian peninsula, called aqap. they have their base of operations in yemen, the most dangerous ring of the al qaeda network. in the past week as we've reported on extensively this past week, there's been a counterterrorism offensive directed toward provinces, places where aqap has been able to thrive in the past. yemeni commandos have been in there. there's been a ground operation ongoing. today i learned that although at least a dozen aqap militants were killed today and dozens have been killed in the last week, also dozens of yemeni military personnel have been killed. i was told this is a very tough fight and there is great concern that because these ground troops are pushing through, because there are boots on the ground and they are very actively going after these militants, if they are not able to push through this, if they are not able to really get this job done, the

yemeni government doesn't know what's going to happen next. time and ago we've seen aqap been able to thrive. they've been resurgent in yemen. they've been able to get their resources together. they've been able to recruit. they've been able to have massive training centers. the yemeni government has been trying to degrade their capabilities this last week. we learn although the yemeni government and military is trying to secure a perimeter around these areas the fact of the matter is it's much tougher going than they thought it was going to be. while i understand it's going so far so good for them in abian province, it's not going nearly as well in shabwa province. aqap, it seemed like they were ready for them and really able to push back and kill a lot of yemeni troops and really concerns the yemeni government. one disheartening thing i heard from yemeni officials, though they received a lot of support from allies, saudi arabians and americans, they need a lot more support to degrade the capabilities of aqap, which is

dangerous not just to the yemenis but the americans and saudis. >> any ends case u.s. military involvement in helping yemeni forces right now? >> i'm told right now they're just basically providing logistical support, intelligence gathering. there are no u.s. boots on the ground there and no plans for them to be. wolf? >> thanks for that reporting for us tonight. thank you. another story we're following, i want you to watch this. we're just getting in really incredible new video of a street collapse in baltimore, maryland. it happened wednesday afternoon hours of heavy rain pounded the city. i want to just play it. listen as the screams show what happened as the ground gave way. >> oh, my god. >> take a look, again. i want you to watch it one more

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pro-russian fighters seizing new ground in the violent battle for control of ukraine. we want to welcome our viewers in the united states and around the world. i'm wolf blitzer. you're in "the situation room." this hour, we're digging deeper into the long-awaiting preliminary report on flight 370 and the confusion in the hours after the jet vanished. the ten-page document made public today more fully exposes how much time was wasted, how much misleading information was released. it's also remarkable for what it actually leaves out. so much. our correspondents are covering every angle of the report and the reaction which has been intense. along with our experts here in "the situation room" let's get the very latest from aviation correspondent rene marsh. rene? >> wolf, confusion, bad information and a communication breakdown. hours passed before someone makes the critical move to activate the search and rescue

operation to find flight 370. these are the details we know from today's preliminary report. a clearer version of the voice from the cockpit. at 12:41 a.m., march 8th, malaysia airlines flight 370 took off from kuala lumpur. 1:19 a.m. as the aircraft is leaving malaysian airspace, everything appeared normal. >> malaysian 370. good night. >> reporter: flight 370 never made contact with ho chi minh. moments later at 1:21 a.m. the plane's transponder goes off making it disappearance from malaysian and vietnamese radar. 17 minutes pass. at 1:38 a.m., ho chi minh centers asks kuala lumpur controllers who happened to the plane. air traffic control centers throughout the region and other planes try to make contact. in apparent confusion at 2:03, malaysian airlines reports the plane was in cambodian airspace.

then at 2:35, north of vietnam. both reports false. precious time, lost. at 5:30 a.m., 4 hours after disappearing from radar, the rescue coordination center is activated. >> four hours is a long time. the quicker they can get search and rescue assets out to the last known point and the quicker they can start forming a search around that last known point which is absolutely key. >> reporter: military radar tracked it turning and flying over the malay peninsula before going north. the plane deemed friendly and the military radar operator did nothing. a sign civil aviation authorities and the military weren't communicating. in the air for more than seven hours, satellite connections continued to track the plane south. final complete connection at 8:1 a.m. that leads investigators here, the southern indian ocean where the plane could have gone down. three predicted paths and crash

sites. red the most likely. that's where the undersea search is focused. now, what is really striking besides the four-hour delay in activating the search and rescue operation was the fact that a military radar operator saw the plane and did nothing. it really highlights the fact that the controllers who knew something was wrong hadn't communicated with the military right away. we do know in the united states, if an aircraft disappeared from radar after trying for two to three minutes to try and get -- or two or three tries to try to get in contact with the aircraft, if they didn't hear anything, jets could have been scrambled. they would have started investigating right away. >> something would have been done. rene, thanks very much. aviation analyst miles o'brien and cnn's richard quest. richard, the plane goes off of radar for 17 minutes and nothing is done? how do you explain that? do they explain that in his report? >> no, they don't. and the 17 minutes comes at an opportune moment. it's when it's being passed from

one air traffic control region to the next. it's not -- look, the outer edges of what would be reasonable, but it's not unusual on long flights over different countries that planes do go out of radar and out of communication for short periods of time. what is unusual or more is that not just 17 minutes but the first hour went by and then the hour and half then two, three, four. by the time twryou get to the td and fourth hour, there are whole sections, 20, 30 minutes going by and nobody seems to be asking or raising a panic about where this plane is. that is the most unusual part. >> what's the most alarming thing to you, miles? because the fact that it disappears at, like, 1:00 a.m. and don't do anything for hours and hours and hours. >> before 9/11 and up to the morning of 9/11 the u.s. had

trouble with the military and civil communicating. that's much more fully embedded now. what's interesting to me, if a phone call had gone in either direction, perhaps a fighter jet would have gotten in the air. imagine for a moment that scenario. if it was a deliberate act of some kind and there was a fighter jet on your wing, what might have happened? how might that have changed the course of events on that evening? >> i assume that fighter jet would have followed t eed that >> they certainly would have stayed in chase and try to figure out what's going on, make radio communication. would that have somehow change the course of action in the cockpit assuming a deliberate act? >> what do you -- how do you explain the blunder, that's the major words i'm thinking of, richard, how do you explain the blunders? they're pretty well documented but don't give the explanation of why these mistakes occurred. >> i don't think -- you know, i'm going to ratchet down one notch and say not so much mistakes but just the fog of the moment.

and the reason i say that, wolf, is we saw that in air france 447. we saw it in halios. i pretty much guessed as soon as we knew there was an air traffic controller delay that hours went by with "a" talking to "b" talking to "c" talking back to "a" again. it's an air traffic control issue, for some reason, we have seen it before, they did not call crisis soon enough. they should have done but they didn't. >> is there anything, miles, in this report, that would give us at least the clue of why this plane disappeared? whether it was a criminal action by an individual, or individuals, or if it was some sort of catastrophic mechanical failu failure? >> i'm afraid, wolf, that's in the box at the bottom of the ocean. that's where we're going to finds that answer. it may be in that case we would know deliberate or whether it was a mechanical, but even if we discovered when it's recovered, and i say when, because they

will find it eventually. when it's recovered, if they do in fact find a perfectly good working airplane and we'd be able to presume it was a deliberate act, what then? what do we know about who or what might have done that? >> because if it was a mechanical problem, there are about 1,200 boeing 777s flying around the world right now. we have to figure out what that mechanical problem was. if it was a mechanical problem. to make sure it doesn't happen again. all right, guys, stand by. still ahead, after weeks and weeks of anger and anguish, flight 370 families are now coping with a painful new hunch in the gut. we're going live to beijing. you'll find out why riot police in ukraine were powerless, yes, powerless, to stop pro-russian militants.

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after nearly eight weeks after agony, flight 370 families holding vigil in china heard two words today they were very hard. words that were very hard to take. the words "go home." cnn's david mckenzie is joining us live from beijing right now. david, a lot of the families, they have to deal with those words right now. they also have deal with this new report from malaysian officials. what are these family members telling you? >> reporter: well, wolf, they're saying, the ones we've spoken to at least, that the report is irrelevant to them because it doesn't tell them any new information that gets them closer to finding out what happened to their loved ones. of course, there's a whole different set of requirements for this and the emotional scenes that we saw at the hotel were because they were told they need to go home. that the assistant centers are being closed here in the hotel

where hundreds have been stuck for nearly two months. and that led to these terrible scenes of wailing and kneeling on the ground. some of them holding on to the chinese police on the scene saying, where are my loved ones? how can we find them? the calm was later restored by chinese officials. and certainly it appears that there is pressure for the family members both from the malaysian authorities and the chinese government to leave and go home in the coming days. they do say, though, they'll continue supporting them and giving financial assistance through this difficult time. wolf? >> i understand, david, there's been a significant tightening of access by chinese officials where you are in beijing. what's going on? >> reporter: well, that's right. we've had very free access in the recent weeks which is, frankly, unusual for china with this kind of story. yesterday we certainly were

pulled off the scene, told by the police we had to leave. they shut down our live shot. and effectively no access of cameras anywhere officially with the large broadcast cameras inside that hotel. so there is a tightening by the chinese government, unclear whether they want to avoid seeing emotional scenes or whether there's something else going on. it appears to me, at least, that this story has run its course for the chinese officials and they're getting frustrated with the reporting. and certainly, it appears that at least tacidl where, they're on the side of the malaysians to get the families out. wolf? >> david mackenzie, heartbreaking story continuing there in beijing. thanks very much. let's bring back aviation analysts miles o'brien and cnn's richard quest. richard, these families wanted this information that was released today. they wanted it weeks ago. would it have really made a differencefamilies if

they would have heard, for example, the audiotape from cockpit to ground control? >> no. other than peace of mind. it makes no difference to the investigation. it is a peace of mind issue. i have to say, it's unusual they've been allowed to hear it this time. the sort of information that they have requested falls into several categories. it's either to prove that the plane is still somewhere with everyone alive, or it's to understand what happened. or it is at the sort of we just need to know. we need to know every nuts and bolts. and i think that much of the information was given. i know it was given. i've been told it was given. they didn't necessarily register it was given, so they asked for it again and again and again. but this latest development, to close the centers, it's a common sense thing to do, wolf, in the

sense that as malaysian airlines says, they're not shutting them off, but there's a point upon which you have to say, it's time to go home and we'll inform you as we move on to the next part of the process. >> miles, does it bother you the audio that was finally, finally released was ed did ebted? >> i've been thinking about that. it comes from different sources because it's from different frequencies as they tgo along te way. i can't think of anefarious. they probably took out dead spaces with no conversation and other aircraft that are irrelevant to this whole investigation. but having said that, you know, we have a lot of people out there who are coming up with all kinds of crazy conspiracy theories. i think they should release the raw tapes so they're out there for people to listen to. it makes it a lot more convenient for those of us who want to find out the basic quick

facts to have it condensed in short version. >> richard quest, weigh in on that. go ahead, richard. >> it's a -- you know, on one hand i'd love to hear the original tapes in their entirety, but the moment you go down this road, miles, you know as well as i do, the moment you start going down this road of release this and release that, it is an open sesame. and before long, the likes of you and me -- i'm just giving the other point of view here -- before long you and me are asking for anything and everything. >> now, listen. all we're doing is -- all i'm saying is release the full thing for those who would like to listen to them to dispel any ideas that they did, in fact, redact them in some relevant way. i would say they've just been trimmed for time like we do in television every day. why not release the raw stuff, too? >> if you -- if they have been redacted, the transcript of air traffic controllers, and to ground, then we've got all this other stuff and that's been redacted for some purpose, you

know, to hide something, then frankly it's a most extraordinary, as i think you probably agree. >> this whole story is extraordinary. of course. >> i can't believe they've cut out something that basically, you know, for want of a better phrase, to hijack the moment. >> i doubt they'd cut out anything that's relevant here. what i'm saying is, and this goes on to what we've been talking about with the families. this is a credibility issue. the airline has lost all credibility with the families because of the way they have parcelled things out and have been stingy with releasing facts to them. and so why not at this juncture? it doesn't take them in extra effort to release the raw version alongside with the edited version. it makes no sense to hold it back. all it does is raise suspicion where they doesn't need to be suspicion. >> i agree. i think the more they release, the better off for all of us who are interested but also especially for those family members who are most interested. miles, thanks very much. richard, thanks to you as well. just ahead, as violence

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russian president vladimir putin is demanding that ukraine withdraw its troops from eastern ukrainian cities where pro-russian militants are gaining new ground. violent new clashes exploded in the region today. let's get more from our chief national security correspondent jim sciutto. >> the u.s., europe, now considering a larger military presence in europe in response to nato allies. a senior military official says the u.s. is awaiting additional recommendations from phillip greedlove to include both enlarging existing exercises in eastern europe and add additional ones. one dynamic driving this is nato allies, particularly those close to russia and ukraine, have requested a more robust nato presence including larger permanent deployments on their soil. these additional troops will come from u.s. forces already in europe. the british may also be contributing.

this as it's becoming clearer inside ukraine that the government there is unable to police and control its own territory. as pro-russian militants expand their armed action across the eastern part of the country. in the scenes of escalating violence in eastern ukraine, this one is particularly sobering. the ukrainian riot police sent in to remove pro-russian militants from city of donestk were instead removed, themselves, chased away and later stripped of their shields, bat batons, even their bulletproof vests. the militants were left to bust down doors and shatter windows. pro-russian militants are steadily seizing control of communities a cross eastern ukraine. slavyansk is under control. as are police headquarters and city halls in ability oaeight o eastern towns and cities.

ukrainian officials say they're powerless to stop the militants' advances, but demonstrating their growing fears, ukraine's president introduced a military draft for all men 18 to 25. and ukrainian soldiers guarding the parliament building in the capital, kiev, are carrying out emergency drills. at home in russia, moscow's intervention in ukraine is broadly popular. at rallies marking may day, thousands marched in moscow to show their support. u.s. officials say russia's ultimate goal is unknowable. some analysts see president putin intended to undermine upcoming elections in ukraine, possibly to lay the groundwork for an invasion. >> then the russian government makes the case that the results of the elections are illegitimate and then they have the right to protect the rights of those citizens in eastern ukraine who they feel their rights are being violated. that then is where i think the real danger for a possible

military invasion of eastern ukraine comes in. >> russian officials are increasingly invoking the responsibility to protect ethnic russians inside ukraine who they claim are under threat from the kiev government. orchestrated they say by the u.s. it is no coincidence this is the same standard the west used intervene in libya. u.s. and european officials concerned increasingly moscow might use this as justification for further military action inside ukraine. you see them building this case, this narrative. everybody i've talked to is worried about where it's leading. >> it's a very, very dangerous situation. jim sciutto, thanks very much. remember, always follow us on twitter. just tweet me @wolfblitzer. @cnnsit room. always watch us live. dvr the show so you won't miss a moment. that's it for me. thanks very much for watching. i'm wolf blitzer in "the situation room." now let's step into the

"crossfire" with newt gingrich and van jones. >> good to be back, wolf. if it's one thing the american people want is leadership, especially when it comes to keeping our country out of dumb wars. >> unfortunately, van, that's one thing we're not getting from this president. leadership. the debate starts right now. tonight on "crossfire" new chaos in ukraine. threats from vladimir putin. and new concessions from a former president. >> vladimir putin changed. >> on the left, van jones. on the right, newt gingrich. in the "crossfire," representative karen bass, a democratic member of the foreign affairs committee, and senator ron johnson, a republican on the foreign relations committee. is president obama stumbling or leading on the world stage? tonight, on "crossfire." welcome to "crossfire." i'm newt gingrich on the right. >> i'm van jones on the left.

in the "crossfire" tonight we have two opposing views on foreign policy. well now, look, folks, we have a lot of stuff happening in the world. get ready. it looks like all spring and all summer the republicans are going to take every problem on the world stage and use it as an excuse not to come together, not to solve america's problems, but just to blame president obama. the ukraine, benghazi, whatever it is. same script. obama is making america look weak. no, you guys are doing that. that's what you're doing. america looks weak when we jump into these dumb wars we can't pay for or win. america looks weak when we have an opposition party at home that won't help the president in war, in peace, overseas, or at home. now, newt, i think you guys need to make it official, the gop has now become the get obama party. that's what you guys are. >> i'd have more sympathy for you case except obama makes it so easy. so i think it's going to be an interesting debate tonight in the "crossfire" tonight. democratic representative karen bass of